President Benigno S. Aquino III met with United States
Defense Secretary Ashton Carter during a courtesy call in Malacañang on
Thursday.
Defense Secretary Voltaire Gazmin and Foreign Affairs
Secretary Jose Rene Almendras joined President Aquino during his meeting with
Carter.
The American defense chief, who arrived in the country on
Wednesday, was accompanied by US Ambassador to the Philippines Philip Goldberg;
Ambassador David Shear, US assistant secretary of defense; Eric Rosenbach, the
defense secretary’s chief of staff; Brig. Gen. Eric Smith, senior military
assistant to the defense secretary; and Peter Cook, Pentagon Press Secretary and
chief spokesman for the Department of Defense.
Also present on the Philippines’ side were Undersecretary
Pio Lorenzo Batino, Department of National Defense; Undersecretary Emmanuel
Bautista of the Cabinet Cluster on Security, Justice and Peace; Gen. Hernando
Iriberri, chief of staff of the Armed Forces of the Philippines; and Philippine
Ambassador to the US Jose Cuisia Jr.
During a joint press conference with Secretary Gazmin in
Malacañang, Carter announced the conduct of joint patrols between US and Filipino
forces in Philippine territories, especially in the South
China Sea .
The joint patrols will involve the two countries' navies and
air forces, according to Carter.
Carter also said that some members of the US military
participating in the ongoing Balikatan exercises will be left behind in
selected Philippine bases to improve interoperability of both forces and
enhance the capability of Filipino forces, both in conflict readiness and
disaster response, as well as during accidents.
http://www.pna.gov.ph/index.php?idn=1&sid=&nid=1&rid=876659
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